The Sharks grabbed a stranglehold on their Western
Conference Quarter Final series with the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night,
by taking a big 6-3 win on the road in Game 4. Five different Sharks scored
goals, including Ryane Clowe, who bagged a pair in the win. Antti Niemi made 35
stops to earn his 3rd win of the series. His counterpart, Jonathan Quick,
surrendered 6 goals for the second consecutive game.

Three goal
outbursts in the 2nd and 3rd periods helped propel the Sharks, who were
clicking at the Staples Center. More importantly, San Jose denied the Kings
from scoring on six power plays, which was the biggest hole in Game 2.

Both teams tried to settle into the game by getting their feet under them
before turning on the jets. Once they did, the game turned into a track meet.

Jason Demers lit up Dustin Brown with a hip check that sent the Kings
captain flying head over heels at the 5 minute mark.

Brown would take
out his frustration on Joe Thornton with a slash that would send him to the
penalty box. Defenseman Matt Greene followed that up with another slash 38
seconds later to give the Sharks a 5-on-3 power play. The Kings buckled down,
killing both penalties, which was aided by a non-call on a cross check by Drew
Doughty in the left corner.

Dan Boyle was forced to hook Wayne
Simmonds after Ben Eager coughed up the puck in his own zone. San Jose created
a 2-on-1 short-handed chance on the ensuing faceoff, but Quick denied Joe
Pavelski on a 20-foot wrist shot.

Ian White was sent off late in the
period to give the Kings a short 5-on-3, but San Jose's penalty killers defused
both penalties to keep the game scoreless.

Thornton forced a turnover
with 1:30 left in the period and setup a nice scoring chance. Patrick Marleau
launched a one-timer off Thornton's cross-ice pass, but Quick snared it with a
glove save.

Scott Nichol helped open up the ice for San Jose early in
the 2nd period, after he engaged Doughty in front of the benches. Both would
earn roughing minors, but it created a 4-on-4 situation that the Sharks would
use to carve up the Kings defense.

The Sharks were the beneficiaries
of some good luck early in the 2nd period. Ryane Clowe found the back of the
net after throwing the puck on net from the right corner. Kings defenseman Alec
Martinez mishandled the puck, deflecting it into his own net.

Martinez's night would get worse less than two minutes later, after he
deflected a puck back to Logan Couture in the slot. The Sharks rookie whipped a
pass to his left, where Jason Demers was slicing to the net for the one-timer
past Quick.

Both goals came on the 4-on-4, courtesy of Nichol.

Nichol would help setup another goal after he induced Greene into
taking a double-minor for high sticking at the 6:00 mark.

The Kings
would kill off all but the last 32 seconds of the 4 minute penalty, but that
wasn't good enough. Clowe tapped home a deflection off Quick, after Couture
rifled a shot off the Kings netminder.

Kings head coach Terry Murray
tried to settle his team down by calling a timeout after the goal, similar to
Todd McLellan's move in Game 3.

The move would pay off. Niclas Wallin
mishandled the puck in the Sharks zone, allowing Ryan Smyth to put a shot on
goal. Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi was forced to go down to make the save,
allowing the puck to sit perched on the right side of the crease. Brad
Richardson swooped around the back of the net and stuffed it home to cut the
Sharks lead to 3-1.

The luck would shift in the Kings direction late in
the period when Marc-Edouard Vlasic defelcted a Justin Williams pass into his
own net. Vlasic tried to get inside position on Smyth as the two headed for the
net, but his stick tapped the puck past Niemi to make a one-goal lead for San
Jose.

With the momentum tipping the ice toward the Sharks goal, White
took a tripping penalty to make things that much more difficult.

The
intermission allowed San Jose to regroup and figure out how to repel the Kings
push. The answer was to simply score more goals.

Joe Thornton pushed
the Sharks lead to 4-2 by chipping home a sweet pass from Kyle Wellwood at 2:28
of the 3rd period. Wellwood carried the puck along the end boards from right to
left, then whipped a shot to the slot, picking up the cutting Thornton.

Pavelski pushed the Sharks lead back to three goals 54 seconds later
on a deflection from the slot. Pavelski had his back to the net, but he was
able to get a stick on a Dan Boyle feed from the right side.

Torrey
Mitchell scored his 1st of the playoffs on a tap in from the right side at
11:42. Once again, Wellwood got the primary assist by bouncing a shot off
Quick. Mitchell was Johnny-on-the-spot to punch home the deflection for the
4-goal lead.

Niemi made a big pad save on next shift after the Kings
forced the puck deep and a deflection skittered across the slot.

Jack
Johnson pumped a shot from the left point less than two minutes later that
Alexei Ponikarovsky apparently tipped past Niemi to make a 6-3 game. Replays
showed the shot on straight trajectory to the net, but Ponikarovsky was
credited with is 1st goal of the playoffs.

San Jose's penalty killers
did their job all night long, but came up especially big late in the contest.
An undisciplined tripping penalty by Dany Heatley was followed by a
cross-checking penalty by Boyle 15 seconds later, putting the Kings on a
lengthy 5-on-3. Killing those penalties was the final nail in the coffin for
Los Angeles.